Do We Need to Rethink Wisdom Education?

The self comes into being physically and emotionally over nine long months in the womb. A neural network through tuning of the brain takes shape via physically experiencing life in the womb environment.

Our inner most self is formed and is understood in physical emotions, it is understood by the right brain that feels in pure emotions without any expression in words. The left brain develops along side but remains kind of incapable of figuring out its self as the left brain works in words and it does not understand life in words at this early stage.

It is clear that our inner most being is purely emotional. Our self image is created on emotional experiences in the womb and the initial physical experiences of life during the first few years of life. Experiencing life through words comes gradually much later as language is slowly learned and understood by the left brain. By the time the self is understood in words the emotional self expressed in physical biochemical reactions is already well set.

The self image is set up through pure wordless emotions and if the self image is defective and needs to be changed, its emotional intelligence has to be changed. This can only happen by improving the physical quality of the brain through wordless emotional healing. As emotional intelligence at the super mature stage is wisdom; wisdom too is determined by the physical quality of the right brain.

Wisdom education is a failure because we ignore that wisdom is a pure emotion that stems innately from the physical brain and thus to create wisdom; the wisdom generating property of the brain has to be improved. We go nowhere because we continue to teach wisdom through words while ignoring the physical condition of the emotional brain. It is like fresh knowledge in words is put into the brain in a foreign language that the brain does not understand and so it has little effect on improving the brain’s knowledge. The only knowledge the right brain understands is in pure emotions!

Feb 3 2013:
It's not clear to me that our innermost selves are purely emotional. It is clear to me that emotions are nothing more than warning signals that there is an error in our belief structures. When we are completely rational, emotions no longer control us in the name of guiding us. Ego fades away. Life blooms.

Feb 3 2013:
It is the emotional upbringing that creates the physical brain structure that determines the quality of the emotional intelligence output. The warning signals themselves are symptoms of the emotionally challenged brain. "When we are completely rational, emotions no longer control us. Ego fades away. Life blooms" is your perfect observation. But the question is how do we make individuals, groups, country and corporations completely rational?

Not by our current way of teaching wisdom/emotional-intelligence. Teaching wisdom through imparting knowledge, pleading, preaching, carrots and sticks is like trying to tell an emotionally challenged brain to become emotionally healthy. It is like telling brass to become gold. What we succeed in doing through words is brain washing. Wisdom education needs more than brain washing; it needs physical brain purifying.

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Jan 28 2013:
I would have to ask you to state your definition of wisdom. I see wisdom as the most practical application or thought pattern that allows for the successful outcome of a particular problem. Also, Wisdom is like Occam's razor, the simplest solution to fit the facts.

Now please correct me if I am incorrect in assessing your points. I believe you to say that words and knowledge have little effect because of the underlying emotional state of the mind. I agree to a point. I think in a tug of war the amygdala and emotions trumps logic in an even fight, but I also believe that over the last 100,000+ the neo-cortex has evolved so that language and social skills do have an impact on emotional states and can thus affect our mental well being.

quick example. (true story, I was there, but just listening) Person A says they took a Gideon bible from a hotel because they were very interested in it and forgot it was in their bag. Person A felt terrible and was guilt ridden. person B tells person A "the Gideon's put those there for you to take. They want you to take them, and are happy to replace them" Person A is immediately happy and relieved.

Now, no physical objects moved. This had very little to do with physical laws. More primal was a thought that entered into a human mind via the auditory system, entering Wernicke's area, translated from perception to conception which then affected the emotional state of the right brain.

Neurologically this tells me there is some connection from the language centers of the brain over to the emotional state. If this is so (I may be incorrect) Then language could be used as a tool to affect the emotional state in a positive and negative way. IF we define wisdom as assessing something differently, then use language to convey that information, we may have a tool to better mankind's mental state.

Jan 28 2013:
Thank you for your interest in this topic. Wisdom is a pure emotion that is generated by an emotional baggage free brain. It is like a fragrance of the brain. Which means wisdom is an innate product of an emotionally super healthy brain. Wisdom is generated emotionally by the right brain which functions in biochemical reactions alone.

Trying to persuade one to become wise through knowledge of wisdom in words is like teaching in French to one who does not know French. It is like pleading with a dirty bed sheet to clean itself. It is like asking brass to become gold. It is like trying to enlighten a defective machine to function smoothly. Talking to the right brain in words is virtually like talking to a rock. No wonder current wisdom education is a failure.

It is like teaching someone to become an expert of what it means to be a millionaire. Becoming a millionaire is something else! Similarly it is not about having the knowledge of wisdom; it is about becoming wisdom.

The right brain does not understand in words, only through biochemical reactions and so when we try to teach wisdom through words the left brain/mind gets it, but has little effect on the right brain. It is like the wisdom knowledge in words is a foreign language to the right brain and so it does not understand and as a result wisdom education in words is a failure. It is the right brain that functions in emotions and so it is the right brain that projects the quality of emotional intelligence/wisdom. Thus to improve the quality of emotional intelligence it is the right brain that has to be physically improved. So wisdom education is brain therapy.

However you are right, words do have an impact; but it is more like brain washing rather than brain purifying. The unwise brain is an ore that needs more than washing; it needs to be purified into a super mature emotionally healthy brain.

In your example person A felt guilty but when told that he did no wrong; the guilt was replaced by happiness.

Jan 29 2013:
hmm. Interesting. If you define wisdom as a pure emotion I would agree with a lot of what you say. I believe there are some neurological links between left hemisphere and right. The corpus collosum. Not a perfect connection, but it is there. I see what you mean that words have a limited affect and emotional stability and enhancement need to come from other avenues. Music perhaps? relaxation? less words more altruistic training maybe? Being a Neur-philosophy I will tend to believe that the modification will still come from the senses. Sight, hearing, smell, touch etc. Perhaps not words which must pass through the left hemisphere first. And if this filters the information to the right then there may be a challenge.

That being said. I differ with you on the definition of wisdom. To me wisdom translates to thoughts and actions. Is it wise to walk into a bar, walk up to the largest drunk man and insult him? Well, That would depend on what outcome you want. If you want peace, then perhaps no. But, if for some reason you need to sport a black eye or prove something (whatever it may be) then it may be a wise move. Not a perfect analogy but it is used to demonstrate that the same action can be wise or unwise depending on what outcome you want.

In regards to thoughts we can take the "don't talk to strangers" idea that we have in the U.S. As I recall this took hold 30 years ago with the idea of keeping children safe and teach them to only trust people they know. When the research came back it was learned that this was unwise, because it taught social mistrust AND it was pointed out that a majority of child abuse was performed by trusted family members, not strangers. To me, the point when someone realized the truth ( or at least a more accurate view) of the "don't talk to strangers" policy that person became more wise and could alter behavior or thought patterns accordingly.

Jan 29 2013:
Wisdom is an innate projection of a brain that is emotional baggage free. As long as the emotional baggage in the brain is not addressed; providing knowledge of wisdom in words will have little effect. It is like trying to enlighten a nitrogen producing machine to produce oxygen.

Emotions at the highest super mature stage become wisdom; at the lowest premature stage emotions become ignorance. Love at the highest stage becomes wisdom expressed as pure love. One can also say that wisdom is an emotion purifier.